Chris Lombardi puts defense and security under the spotlight, as he shares his takes on recent NATO and EU cooperation and provides insight into the company’s own long-term strategic partnerships in Europe.

Three trends are currently driving the global electricity sector: decarbonization, decentralization and differentiation. Utilities are making significant contributions to mitigate carbon emissions, while a technology revolution is …

FIRST FOR YOU — NOTES FROM NEW EUROPEAN POLITICAL STRATEGY CENTRE: This in-house Commission think tank assembled by Ann Mettler, with Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker’s blessing to ruffle feathers, has started to publish its thoughts: http://bit.ly/1ASuELP

EUROGROUP PICTURE SAYS IT ALL: http://bloom.bg/1F2gzQ9. Disaster has been averted — again — as negotiators and ministers inch away from the default cliff.

PHRASE OF THE DAY: “Taking stock” — a favorite phrase of 12 finance ministers that pops up again in the official statement from yesterday’s Eurogroup meeting in Brussels. Commissioner Pierre Moscovici is especially keen. He wants to “take stock” of even “substantial progress.”

WHAT DIJSSELBLOEM SAID: “Negotiations have advanced. The new set-up of the negotiations which were put in place after our last meeting in Riga is more efficient, more positive, more constructive, we are making faster progress. Some important issues have now been discussed in depth.”

THREE REASONS TO BREATHE EASIER ON GREECE from Mark Thompson for CNN: “But the heat is still on. The bailout will fall apart, leaving Greece without access to cash, if there’s no deal on economic reforms by the end of June.” http://cnnmon.ie/1bKNL3S

GREEK €750 MILLION PAYMENT MADE: The check is in the mail and will arrive tomorrow with the International Monetary Fund, Greeks and Eurogroup confirm. http://reut.rs/1H9Ve7U

SCHÄUBLE FLOATS GREEK EURO REFERENDUM: German finance minister says “maybe it would be a right measure to let Greek people decide.” The comment comes a day after Alexis Tsipras parades in Parliament with a drawing of a ballot box on his notepaper. http://bit.ly/1FZKeLI

THE BATTLE FOR EUROGROUP LEADERSHIP: Dutch broadcaster NOS looks at the battle between Jeroen Dijsselbloem and the Spanish, who consider it their turn at the wheel. Chris Ostendorf reports: http://bit.ly/1FZXi3O

EURO COIN COMPETITION: Dear EU citizens, you may not have any control over whether you bail out Greece, but you at least have the chance to vote for which design you want on the next €1 coin. http://bit.ly/1KcDTfH

MERKEL IN MOSCOW — OFFERS A VERBAL SLAP TO PUTIN: The German chancellor called the annexation of Crimea “an act of felony and against international law;” the use of “felony” is so new and direct that the Süddeutsche Zeitung speculates she might have misread the prepared text: http://bit.ly/1IxfiD1. John Kerry follows up today with a meeting in Sochi. http://reut.rs/1zUC3PG.

FRENCH FRONTAL FAMILY FEUD: Jean-Marie Le Pen announced a new political group that is not a party but a “a parachute against disaster,” and which will not be a competitor of the National Front he created, now run by his daughter Marine. Le Monde tries to clarify,http://bit.ly/1JCkAM7

HELLO AGAIN, DALLI: Dismissed Commissioner John Dalli (swept aside by Barroso in 2012) has his day in court today. The European Court of Justice decides on his unfair dismissal claim; James Panichi and Quentin Ariès recap the key moments and people of “Dalligate.” http://politi.co/1JDkV19

**A message from GE: Stop the Traffic! Could Tomorrow’s Smart Cities Be Free of Jams? Learn more at http://invent.ge/1HrrRiA

LUXLEAKS PANEL NEEDS MORE TIME: The special Parliament committee on controversial national tax rulings has announced it needs more time to explore the rabbit hole into which it has dived. Playbook also hears that there are behind-the-scenes power plays over how to present the appearance of whistleblower Alain Deltour before the investigating committee. He was bumped at the last minute from yesterday’s schedule, and some MEPs want his appearance to be behind closed doors. Good luck keeping that secret in the Parliament! http://politi.co/1K2HUWy

WHO’LL REIGN IN SPAIN? It’s a four-way contest in regional parliamentary and mayoral elections due May 24, in Spain. Four parties without no appetite for compromise are within striking distance of 20 percent of the vote each. In normally secessionist Catalonia it’s a five-way race with similar dimensions. This is going to get messy. http://politi.co/1Iv2Bdl.

SIMON USHERWOOD WROTE 165 BLOG POSTS ON BREXIT, so you wouldn’t have to. Read them here: http://bit.ly/1EucMbQ

CHINESE MEET MARKET: Chinese banks will be in town on June 4 to pow-wow with representatives of regional governments from across Europe. Commission Vice President Jyrki Katainen told Europolitics: “The EU is open to investment, the origin of an investor is irrelevant.”

NAVAL MANEUVERS #1 — Russia and China have started a joint naval exercise in the Mediterranean, emphasizing it is not directed against anyone. http://bit.ly/1Et6KIm

NAVAL MANEUVERS #2 — COMMISSION EFFORTS TO WEAVE BETWEEN CRITICS:http://politi.co/1PC60pw . The Commission is considering using an emergency EU treaty provision to pass its contentious migration agenda and impose EU-wide refugee quotas — sidelining Parliament and allowing the Council to approve it even if some countries oppose the plan.

MOGHERINI’S MIGRATION RESCUE MISSION AT UN: She pleaded for global support at the UN yesterday for search-and-destroy operations to be carried out on empty smuggling boats, over Libyan objections: “No refugees or migrants intercepted at sea will be sent back against their will” since “their rights under Geneva conventions will be fully honored.” BBC conclusion: “Considering the strained international relations between Moscow and the West, it will take an extraordinary act of unity for this operation to go ahead.” http://bbc.in/1zWEh1l Full statement here: http://bit.ly/1J7GV66

THEY TOIL SO YOU CAN EAT: Associated Press reports on the back-breaking and at time wage-free existence of refugee farm workers in Europe. http://yhoo.it/1Rvpxfh h/t Daniel Lippman.

LOOK BEFORE YOU LEGISLATE: A leaked document obtained by POLITICO indicates that the Commission will ask the Parliament and the Council to carry out their own impact assessments for any “substantive” amendments to the Commission’s proposals. http://politi.co/1FZYbt5

PARLIAMENT’S NEW LOGO — PRICIER THAN THEY THINK: The Parliament’s director-general of communication, Juana Lahousse, explained to MEP Christofer Fjellner (in an email seen by Playbook) that “the new logo of the European Parliament, together with the accompanying graphical rules for its use, was designed and developed entirely using internal resources, with the help of the Publications Office of the European Union. No specific budget was therefore needed for this process.” What she means is no extra budget was needed. When the Commission changed its logo in 2012 it spent around €125,000 on the design alone, as Bruno Waterfield reported at the time http://bit.ly/1F2lCjz.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE: Lahousse does, however, concede that the Parliament’s officials authorized spending €120,000 “specifically for the physical replacement of the logo in places of high public visibility, essentially buildings, the plenary chambers and press conference rooms.” Look out for that logo!

AIRBUS RAMPS UP LOBBYING AFTER CRASH: Airbus hit the phones to journalists yesterday to offer free trips to its headquarters in Toulouse after the latest Airbus crash near Seville. http://on.ft.com/1ExIKTu

SPOTTED: European Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis is back on the job after nearly a month away from work and away from Brussels. It is widely understood that his absence was due to health reasons, but the Commission is no providing specific information. Andriukaitis gave a speech Monday in Riga on eHealth.

BLINDED BY COPYRIGHT: Seven EU countries are working together to block the EU signing the ‘Marrakesh Treaty’ — a system designed to help blind people have access to more books — on behalf of all EU countries. The gang of seven see a plot to use the treaty to give the EU more copyright legal competences; and blind citizens may be the collateral damage. Among the seven is the UK, which already signed the treaty. It loves blind access, it just doesn’t love the idea of the EU facilitating that access. POLITICO’s David Meyer reports http://politi.co/1RwkRpf

SUNNY TERRACE TIPS:1) Shai Guttman recommends Chez Franz on Rue François Merjay in the expat-heavy Ixelles district. http://chezfranz.com. Playbook agrees! 2) I visited the increasingly buzzy St. Gilles Town Hall food and drinks market last night. After neighbouring Ixelles clamped down on Wednesday night public boozing at Place Châtelain some of the crew decamped to St.Gilles. Overall this crowd is more “BoBo” compared to “yuppie” Châtelain. Pic here: http://wp.me/a4MXoN-QNo

BELGIAN CATCH-UP: 1) The Belfius Press Prize has gone to three investigative journalists — Kristof Clerix of MO*magazine, Lars Bové of De Tijd and Xavier Counasse of Le Soir for stories on deals between large companies and the Luxembourg tax authorities designed to reduce or eliminate tax. 2)Huawei will open a research institute in Leuven. The institute will oversee the activities of 18 of Huawei’s R&D sites in eight European countries, on project such as 5G mobile networks. http://bit.ly/1dXkSmO

NEW BRUSSELS TRAFFIC PLAN — DOUBLING OF CENTRAL PEDESTRIAN ZONE: That’s the major change amongst many. There will also be an enlarged cycle network, and an eight-month pilot project of new vehicle routing around the pedestrian zone. Find out more in French and Dutch, and via map images here: http://bit.ly/1FfGU0d

BRUSSELS EVENTS:1) The full ECOFIN Council meets after yesterday’s Eurogroup meeting; Commissioner Margrethe Vestager gives a speech on “Anti-trust in Digital Markets” to the Spanish Chamber of Commerce. 2) Burson-Marsteller are hosting a UK election “what does it all mean” event at 6:30 pm. You could try your luck with a late RSVP here http://bit.ly/1QCIeMv

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: Germany’s Basic Law was approved by the allied powers in 1949; Austria formally regained independence in 1955 after agreeing to remain neutral between the West and the Soviet Union.

**A message from GE: Stop the Traffic! Could Tomorrow’s Smart Cities Be Free of Jams? Learn more at http://invent.ge/1HrrRiA

Drivers across Europe’s 10 worst traffic cities wasted 63 hours on average stuck in traffic last year. According to INRIX, the cost of congestion by 2030 will be £21 billion each year in the UK alone. With the growing number of people moving to cities, traffic is increasing and drivers hate it.

The solution isn’t straightforward, but it is being developed. What’s more, this solution could come from a source that you might not expect – the humble streetlight. These streetlights aren’t as humble as the ones you’re used to seeing in your town at the moment, though. They’re from a super smart breed containing sensors that can help exchange information and ultimately improve a range of services such as traffic management.